Interfacial photochemistry: Fundamentals and applications

Abstract

This article deals with the photochemical processes occurring at semiconductor/liquid and semiconductor/gas interfaces and gives an overview of fundamentals and applications of TiO2 photocatalysis together with the photoelectrochemical characterization of diamond thin films and azobenzene derivative (ABD) monolayers. The first part of this paper discusses the TiO2 photocatalysis with a special emphasis on kinetic aspects of photocatalysis under very low and relatively high UV intensities as well as a wide range of initial concentrations of reactants. The second part deals with a novel photoinduced super amphiphilic TiO2 surface which has a wide potential applications. In the third part, we present our recent work on the photoelectrochemistry of the semiconducting diamond/electrolyte interface including the influence of the surface conditions on the interfacial electron transfer properties. The last part of this article includes the photoelectrochemistry of azobenzene derivative monolayers that exhibit unusual redox behavior in aqueous solution.